Pulsar's 10 Cosmic Tips to help you master your ServiceNow investment.

1. Charting Your Course - Like navigating through the cosmos, define clear objectives and a roadmap for your ServiceNow journey. This is often the simplest yet most overlooked part of any ServiceNow voyage. Start at the end, and work backwards with clearly defined MVP drops, that can quickly be enhanced. Ensure your team is prepped and primed for change and that they have the tools, resources and authority to define success and be able to execute it.

2. Aligning Your Constellations - Stress the importance of aligning all stakeholders, akin to aligning stars for a better view of the universe. This is all about positive and proactive business change. Your change initiative is solely dependent on the people required to carry out the remainder of your mission, make sure you have the right champions to help you shift Milestones left.

3. Phased Exploration - Advocate for a phased rollout like exploring the cosmos in stages, ensuring safety and adaptability. What I am saying here is go as fast as your organisation can realistically handle the change. You can implement multiple applications in parallel if you have the resources and buy-in early on, I encourage having the right roles and responsibilities mapped out, a big one here is capacity, don’t underestimate and be short of resources.

4. Crafting Your Galaxy—Configure ServiceNow carefully to create a unique star system but not a complex one. Don’t customise the platform; it is not necessary, the platform is flexible enough, if you are considering any form of customisation other than to meet regulatory or critical infrastructure requirements don’t do it. If your business feels it's truly required, get sign-off from the CTO/CIO. Requirements of this nature should be discussed weekly in your Technical Design Authority.

5. Astronaut Training - Emphasise robust training programmes to equip users with the skills to navigate their ServiceNow environment effectively, much like training astronauts for space missions. Effective programmes of change involve the business early, get your change programme deliverables and teams lined up early, involve the business in the project and include strong champions in your effected LOB’s(Lines of Business) ensure a robust and clear training programmes on your configuration and to be state are carried out.

6. Unlocking the Universe - Encourage exploring the full potential of ServiceNow, like uncovering the secrets of the universe. The most effective scenarios for wider ServiceNow adoption in your business should be spearheaded and driven by specialist resources in your ServiceNow team, which has been given a licence from senior leaders to get the platform adopted. I worked with a business that mimicked some of the solution consulting processes you would expect to find in a boutique partner. The organisation in question has a ServiceNow first policy; if a significant new App purchase or development programme was kicked off, their procurement & PMO departments challenged the business with a, “Why cant we put this on ServiceNow” question. The business invested in a member of the platform team and trained him to be fluent on the business benefits the platform would deliver from an Enterprise Service Management and Data Integration point of view; he would act as a pseudo-BA/Solution Consultant inside the business evangelising about the benefits the platform was driving and how they too could benefit quickly by leveraging it.

7. Cosmic Governance - Implement strong governance to maintain the integrity and compliance of your ServiceNow environment. Your Target Operating Model is critical in realising continuous improvements ensure you get this right. The evolving CoE models are interesting and demonstrate the importance of the platform in core LOB’s (Lines of Business). It is essential to have your roles and responsibilities mapped out, you need the right Product ownership when it comes to the platform. You should have one overall owner followed by product owners mapped to the app and processes they will own. Squads for each area or LOB is the most effective when you have a central governance team around the platform. It’s important to highlight that your ServiceNow governance might need an additional step to fit into wider AI governance that is taking shape fast – don’t get caught out.

8. Cosmic Tune-ups - Regular audits to optimise your ServiceNow configuration, akin to fine-tuning telescopes to get clearer views. Simple, yet critical. Create ad hoc reviews of your platform, to ensure your health scores are maintained and that they stay in the highest percentile possible. ServiceNow releases Major functionalities in each new release circa every 6 months; you want to ensure you can upgrade when required and that this is a seamless and quick process. Platform owners can be put under pressure having to plan upgrades with already stretched resources trying to meet the demand of wider business and ensure your TDA is making the right decisions to keep your platform watertight.

9. Staying on the Cosmic Edge - Keep up to date with ServiceNow’s latest developments to stay ahead in the technology race, like staying updated with the latest astronomical discoveries, stay informed and attend the ServiceNow events to network with your industry peers to understand how they are achieving great results within their businesses. I would encourage you to set up a quarterly, if not more frequent, cadence to specifically review your roadmap and ensure it's on course and taking advantage of your licensing. The platform moves fast, so make sure your business can, too.

10. Consult the Astronomers—Make sure you are consulting with the right experts. It's difficult to find the entire skillset you need from day one. Partners can help fill a gap in advising/assuring/changing and running your platform. Make sure you are putting your trust in the right partners who want and need you to succeed. We know that it’s all about the people; our one-team approach allows us to transfer our skills and set you up for mission success.

As ServiceNow continues to evolve at a rapid pace, it's essential to plot the right course and elevate your platform to effectively allow for transformation to occur. Effective business change, driven by the right people and processes, will help you realise your desired business outcomes effectively.

Let Pulsar Consulting be your guide through the ServiceNow galaxy. We are passionate about change and eager to help you achieve stellar results.